It had been a long day rife with high nerves and other extreme emotions, so Reiner was very weary by the time he got into bed. Still, sleep didn't come promptly. He was trapped in wakefulness by a restless mind that kept taking him to the worst parts of his day, which then cascaded over other mistakes and missed opportunities. He was afraid that something had shifted with Kuno and that their relationship would never recover to its prior closeness. He thought, next, of other more permanent losses... Things unsaid that would never be imparted to his parents, to brothers in arms who hadn't fared as well against the Mist mutants. It may have been an hour, it may have been three, but eventually he calmed himself down. It took conscious thought to will his mind toward tranquility, but eventually he achieved it.
In his own dream, he was breakfasting with Melchior and Brenner Dornkirk. They were both recurring characters in his dreams, though he hadn't seen either since they'd passed. Even his subconscious was aware that this was no longer an aspirational fantasy, but a hopeless one, and so there was a wistful, haunting air to the dream. Brenner had just poured him a snifter of that earthy spirit he seemed to fancy, when an earthquake struck- Or was it the Blitz? He rushed to the window, pushing it open and...
"Mm?" It was his eyes that fluttered open. Groggy and confused, but alarmed he shot up in bed. Being a trained soldier, and given the recent traumas of the Blitz, his reflexes may have been quicker than most as he turned to find the source of the blows that had struck his back, and the sound and motion that had started to stir him from his dream.
"Kuno?" He knitted his brow, coming to the realization of what was going on. He'd seen this sort of thing before in the barracks, though he'd never suffered with it himself. He moved a bit clear of the thrashing, stepping off the bed and raising his voice, "Konrad!" It wasn't working, "Fuck, um..." He'd never had to deal with this personally, and he'd always been so half-awake when it was going on that he couldn't for the life of him recall what one was supposed to do in these situations. Part of him wanted to hold him down to stop him from hurting himself, but the other part of him realized that a person in the midst of a traumatic nightmare probably wouldn't respond well to being constricted.
"Fuck!" He repeated, and settled on a compromise. He carefully crawled back onto the bed, dodging flailing limbs and tried to gently take hold of one of his wrists. "Konrad... Kuno, wake up, please?"
In his own dream, he was breakfasting with Melchior and Brenner Dornkirk. They were both recurring characters in his dreams, though he hadn't seen either since they'd passed. Even his subconscious was aware that this was no longer an aspirational fantasy, but a hopeless one, and so there was a wistful, haunting air to the dream. Brenner had just poured him a snifter of that earthy spirit he seemed to fancy, when an earthquake struck- Or was it the Blitz? He rushed to the window, pushing it open and...
"Mm?" It was his eyes that fluttered open. Groggy and confused, but alarmed he shot up in bed. Being a trained soldier, and given the recent traumas of the Blitz, his reflexes may have been quicker than most as he turned to find the source of the blows that had struck his back, and the sound and motion that had started to stir him from his dream.
"Kuno?" He knitted his brow, coming to the realization of what was going on. He'd seen this sort of thing before in the barracks, though he'd never suffered with it himself. He moved a bit clear of the thrashing, stepping off the bed and raising his voice, "Konrad!" It wasn't working, "Fuck, um..." He'd never had to deal with this personally, and he'd always been so half-awake when it was going on that he couldn't for the life of him recall what one was supposed to do in these situations. Part of him wanted to hold him down to stop him from hurting himself, but the other part of him realized that a person in the midst of a traumatic nightmare probably wouldn't respond well to being constricted.
"Fuck!" He repeated, and settled on a compromise. He carefully crawled back onto the bed, dodging flailing limbs and tried to gently take hold of one of his wrists. "Konrad... Kuno, wake up, please?"